Evolution

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” — Charles Darwin

We are living in a transitional world, a world that is changing rapidly. It is a world where we are already bucking against the antiquated models of gender, race, nationality, expression, freedom, and human fulfillment. What we replace them with will reflect immensely on where we want to go as a species in our evolution but also who are species will be to future generations. We need to become examples of growth, not of habit. We need models which reflect more of our humanity–curiosity, compassion, mindfulness, responsibility, and, most importantly, creativity–a model that is dying a little bit more every day when we stare at our screens, slouching towards distracted pleasures and habit loops instead of creating, exploring, and challenging ours views and seeking to witness and embrace the world and views around us. Long live writing community!

This is why literature is vital for our evolution. Poetic and unconscious images, raw emotions, foreboding and terrifying thoughts, all within the confines of the minds and hearts and spirits of complex, passionate characters, with their own stories told in an honest and evocative language that makes larger and deeper felt the things told–THIS is true literary art. And so to save this art form from obscurity, we must defend ourselves against the things which seek to destroy it. Gone are the self-defeating models of the loner writer, the starving writer, the drug- and/or alcohol-addicted writer, the diffident woman, the arrogant man. We are better than the models our parents and grandparents have given us, models of people whom we truly appreciate for their own struggles in their own time. But like Mikey said, this is OUR time, and we will no longer raise these models to be something we feel we must endure to become authentic writers. The old models must be burned as a tribute to the new.